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I tore apart an organ to dispose of it, and ripped out a lot of circuits with what i think are germanium transistors..there are a lott of them, like about sixty maybe. some of the the labels on them are:
4jx1d630-9 526
4jx1d610-2 508
4jx1d610-2 521
4jx1d610-2 513
4jx1d610-2 526
4jx1d630-9 504
if those numbers mean anything to anyone, that would be helpful. i really honestly know nothing about transistors, but have made a few distortion pedals and keep reading about using germanium transistors. could i use any of these in a fuzz pedal circuit?
thanks!
-Marc
(they are made by G E)
If they are american, might they not be 2N series, like 2N526, etc.? Did you say what the case is TO-1, TO-5 etc?
As to fuzz face, the answer is probably 'yes, but you'll want to test them'.
Here is some could info from frequent poster RG:
Technology of the Fuzz Face - Frame Definition
We don't care who made the transistors, but if we knew who made the organ, we could get a clue about the parts.
I would doubt the 2N theory, those look like OEM part numbers. Lowery or Wurlitzer or whoever had the parts stamped with their part numbers instead of the transistor type. In fact the 526 and such at the end of each one looks more like a date code. 26th week of 1965, 8th week of 1965, etc. The long part is the part number.
Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.
If you want to know if they're germanium just put your volt meter in diode test mode and look at the voltage drop across the junctions- silicon will be about .6 volts, germanium about half that. If they are germanium I highly recommend using RG's germanium transistor leakage tester to see how much they leak and what their "real world" gain is.
Not bragging or nuttin' but I found a bunch of old NPN JAN germanium transistors at work- only one of the 7 I've tested was too leaky to use in a fuzz face and all the gains fall between 80 and 150. Yes, they're NPN- the place I work at absorbed an old Navy lab that needed the NPN components in the earliest days of solid state construction so I lucked out.
jamie
it was a conn organ, heres some pics, sorry the quality sucks, i cant find my camera ha had to use the phone..
Don't know if this helps, but found this link:
CONN Parts Catalog
Didn't see your numbers in there, however.
Also found this old ebay one, whith the 4jX1D610 part number....
http://cgi.ebay.com/GERMANIUM-TRANSI...QQcmdZViewItem
Last edited by JHow; 07-01-2010 at 09:41 PM. Reason: found another one...
i tried making a basic fuzz face circuit with it, and all i get is a short farty output. it sounds fuzzy, but really short, even if i play full chords or have settings high. could this be something i could fix with just a resistor change? cus it definitely makes sound, and i checked the transistors
By "short", do you mean the notes decay rapidly and don't sound as long? It sounds like it could be some bias issue. I'm not a guru, but maybe if you have a look at the voltages on each pin and post those one of the gurus can weigh in. If this is a perf board circuit, you might have missed a ground connection or something.
Strongly suspect that it is misbiased. That sounds like the sort of gating behavior you'll get. Find the paper out there on the "Science of the Fuzz Face" or whatever it's called and it will explain how to get you dialed in. Or at least where to put the trim pots.Originally Posted by marcrochotte
"Technology of the Fuzz Face": it's part of the Technology of... series for effects at geofex.com.
Try as I might, I can't get enough people to go read geofex first. It makes so many forum questions unnecessary.
Odd, isn't it, that the internet at once encourages so many to treat what they see as gospel truth, without reservation or questions, yet balks at treating a single site as dependable. Just one of life's little paradoxes.
geofex cannot be absorbed in just one reading. One often has to read the articles several times (if one is me) for the concepts to sink in.
And the site is completely lacking in pictures of scantily-clad women (which research has shown to be a key driver of web site traffic!).
Butbutbut... this is all stuff *I* said, so it must be perfect!
I should have known that there was something fundamental I was not doing right.And the site is completely lacking in pictures of scantily-clad women (which research has shown to be a key driver of web site traffic!).
Well, Jack Orman had a link to "Live Nude Shakespeare" (a real, though somewhat questionable, entity) at his AMZ site for the longest time. Maybe you need a link "Dostoyevsky in the Raw" or "Rumi...topless".
Actually, without meaning to be too critical, the left side of your home page IS a little on the tiny side, font-wise, and easily overlooked by those those distracted by the flashier content in the "New at GEO" listing. No need for bells and whistles or Flash animation. Just some bigger letters in Arial for that stuff in the left-hand column.
Well, that AND the nude women.
Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.
You have a great web site RG, full of useful stuff. But when people come here and don;t even try the search function here, how can we expect them to actually read another web site TOO?
Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.
notice that the link to R.G.'s article is already given in the 3rd post
So it is. Sorry - missed that one.notice that the link to R.G.'s article is already given in the 3rd post
ah, well I'm just pointing it out to the original poster who would have gotten better results if he had read the article! (There will probably still be people asking the same questions and running into the "farty gated Fuzz Face build problem", but) I'll (again) attest (from personal experience going through my stash of almost a couple hundred(?)) that the info in the article (and in the Small Bear article) really works. Measure the ones you have, match them up and you will have a FF that works. (And the rest of the stuff too about the specs. being vastly more important than the exact period correct brand, etc.)
That's the one. Yeah, I missed it having been already linked. Must be the lack of naked womens.
The other cause of people not reading and this is a thread ender for me, is the guy who says "I searched and saw that link and it had all this other stuff that doesn't apply to my problem. Why don't you just explain it to me."
Anyway, that's got nothing to do with our OP here. I'll have to remember the proper name to refer people to it. I've got it bookmarked in the three screens long pile of bookmarks I've got relating to pedals, technical info.
I already GOT pictures of nekkid ladies. I needs more pictures of nekkid organ circuits! Seriously- did anyone else dig the gutshots of those ...er.. trannies..with the neon bulbs behind em? Groovy!
Some advice on "organ donors" Even if those had been Si transistors, the old ones don't have the gain and bandwidth of modern ones, hence they do sound different(read: desirable) - definitely worth harvesting!
+1 for a good read of the Technology of the Fuzz Face. I suspect that adjusting one or two values in the FF circuit will make those Conn transistors come alive!
HEY !!!!!!!!!!! What about Mojo then ???the specs. being vastly more important than the exact period correct brand, etc.
I *know* these are special without any f****** meter or Datasheet.
Never before saw a *Black* metallic TO5 case.
Now to serious matters: please draw the transistor case, a circle with 3 legs in done in Paint will do, do not forget to draw the tab and state whether it's a top or bottom view, label them, and post the voltage measured across each pair, both ways, with the diode test function.
Thanks.
PS: those neon lamps were the frequency dividers for each key, talk about a tricky to adjust organ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Years ago Antique Electronic Supply (when they had cool stuff) had a box of old transistor 'experimenter' packs. A bag of five or so old Germanium transistors, NPN, with the black case. I bought maybe ten bags. They have made some really good sounding FF clones over the years. I have a few old Tung-sols that have a baby blue case. Yes, they also sound good!HEY !!!!!!!!!!! What about Mojo then ???
I *know* these are special without any f****** meter or Datasheet.
Never before saw a *Black* metallic TO5 case.
well I have a friend of a friend of a friend who SWEARS his cousin's uncle's roadie worked for Hendrix(THE MAN HIMSELF) and EYE WITNESSED *BULLETT* packaged MULLARD BLACK GLASS HERMETICALLY SEALED SPECIALS MILITARY ISSUE OC44 in his Fuzz FAce and THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT!!!!!HEY !!!!!!!!!!! What about Mojo then ???
I *know* these are special without any f****** meter or Datasheet.
Never before saw a *Black* metallic TO5 case.
Now to serious matters: please draw the transistor case, a circle with 3 legs in done in Paint will do, do not forget to draw the tab and state whether it's a top or bottom view, label them, and post the voltage measured across each pair, both ways, with the diode test function.
Thanks.
PS: those neon lamps were the frequency dividers for each key, talk about a tricky to adjust organ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I bought a bunch of those and those were some of the ones I tested when I (finally) got around to testing my stash for leakage and gains and (maybe I had done something to them in the mean time??) if mem. serves they were on the leaky side (or least not the most ideal). I think I had mostly PNP but some NPNs also.
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